The Snake, the Farmer
and the Heron
A N A F R I C A N F A B L E
Children whose parents read to
them have heard 30 million
more words before they start
school. Help your children
prepare for school.
Million word gap project
www.hope-hear.org
#HOPE-learn
The Hope-Hear Million word gap project by
Hope-Hear NPC, 2024 / 064699 / 08
is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution -
Non-Commercial 3.0 Unported License
Illustrated by
Robyn van ZijlRobyn van Zijl
Long ago, in a faraway village, a farmer
had spent the whole day working hard
in his fields. As the evening grew chilly,
he walked home along the dusty path.
On his way, he found a snake, shivering
and frozen in the cold.
The snake, weak and trembling, looked
up at the farmer and begged, "Kind
farmer, please help me. Let me rest
inside your warm belly so that I can
regain my strength. I promise I won't
harm you."
The farmer, believing in kindness, felt
sorry for the snake. He opened his
mouth and allowed the snake to slide
inside, where it curled up, warm and
safe, in his stomach.
The snake rested there, and soon it
regained its strength. But when the farmer
asked the snake to leave, it refused.
Terrified, the farmer sought the help of a
wise heron who lived near a nearby river.
The heron listened carefully to the farmer’s
tale. Being a creature known for its wisdom;
the heron agreed to help. She gently slid its
long beak into the farmer's mouth and
pulled the snake out, throwing it onto the
ground before it could strike.
The farmer thanked the heron for saving
him, but something still troubled him. His
stomach still felt uneasy, as if the snake had
left some poison behind. The heron, wise as
she was, suggested that the farmer eat
white meat to cleanse himself of any poison
that might remain.
As the farmer thought about this, he
realized that the heron was made of white
meat. His eyes gleamed with a sudden
thought. He seized the heron, stuffed it into
a sack, and hurried home, intending to cook
it for dinner.
When the farmer got home, he told his wife
everything that had happened. His wife was
a kind-hearted woman, and was deeply
troubled by her husband’s actions. She knew
that the heron had only helped them out of
kindness. Feeling sorry for the bird, she
decided she would release it.
As she opened the sack to let the heron go,
the bird suddenly flapped its wings in panic.
With a swift motion, it pecked at her eyes,
gouging them out before flying away into the
night.
The Moral of the Story
The tale of the Snake, the Farmer, and the Heron
holds two important lessons.
First, it teaches us that kindness often does not
come back to us in the same way. Like water that
flows downhill, kindness moves forward, helping
others, but may never return to us. We should not
expect to be rewarded for being kind, but instead,
be kind simply because it is the right thing to do.
The fable also has a darker lesson.
Sometimes, kindness is not repaid, but instead is
met with harm.
The farmer’s kindness to the snake was repaid
with betrayal.
The heron’s kindness to the farmer was met with
betrayal. And the wife’s kindness to the heron, in
trying to set it free, was punished with pain.
In life, we may sometimes show kindness, but
instead of gratitude, we might face hardship or
hurt. Even in those cases, we must remember to
be kind, because kindness is its own reward – even
if it doesn’t always come back to us in the way we
hope.
